Thousands attend services across the city to mark Remembrance Day

Wreaths are prepared before Remembrance Day ceremonies at the Military Museums in Calgary on Saturday November 11, 2017. Gavin Young/Postmedia
Postmedia Calgary
Gavin Young, PostmediaGavin Young / Postmedia

As bright sunlight streamed through windows onto wreaths honouring Calgary’s war dead, hundreds attending Remembrance Day services at the Kensington Legion were reminded that “the reality of war is only as far away as a veteran.”

The first Remembrance Day service at the Kensington Legion since Branch No. 264 moved into a new building last June attracted more than 300 people, and was just one of many services across the city attended by tens of thousands of Calgarians.

Following the service, veterans in attendance joked and shared memories over bowls of chili and pints of beer on the second floor of the new glass-clad building on Kensington Road.

Gallery: Remembrance Day in Calgary

The honour guard stands at the cenotaph during the Remembrance Day wreath laying ceremony at the Military Museums in Calgary on Saturday November 11, 2017.Gavin Young/Postmedia

Calgarians pay their respects at the cenotaph during Remembrance Day ceremonies at the Military Museums in Calgary on Saturday November 11, 2017.Gavin Young/Postmedia

Calgarians place poppies on wreaths at the cenotaph during Remembrance Day ceremonies at the Military Museums in Calgary on Saturday November 11, 2017.Gavin Young/Postmedia

Calgarians place poppies at the cenotaph during Remembrance Day ceremonies at the Military Museums in Calgary on Saturday November 11, 2017.Gavin Young/Postmedia

The honour guard stands at the cenotaph during the Remembrance Day wreath laying ceremony at the Military Museums in Calgary on Saturday November 11, 2017.Gavin Young/Postmedia

Calgarians walk past a statue honouring First World War veterans during Remembrance Day ceremonies at the Military Museums in Calgary on Saturday November 11, 2017.Gavin Young/Postmedia

Veterans attend Remembrance Day ceremonies at the Military Museums in Calgary on Saturday November 11, 2017.Gavin Young/Postmedia

Several thousand Calgarians attend Remembrance Day ceremonies at the Military Museums in Calgary on Saturday November 11, 2017.Gavin Young/Postmedia

A bugler plays Last Post during Remembrance Day ceremonies at the Military Museums in Calgary on Saturday November 11, 2017.Gavin Young/Postmedia

Calgarians placed poppies at the cenotaph during Remembrance Day ceremonies at the Military Museums in Calgary on Saturday November 11, 2017.Gavin Young/Postmedia

Calgarians walk past a statue honouring Second and First World War veterans during Remembrance Day ceremonies at the Military Museums in Calgary on Saturday November 11, 2017.Gavin Young/Postmedia

The honour guard stands at the cenotaph during the Remembrance Day wreath laying ceremony at the Military Museums in Calgary on Saturday November 11, 2017.Gavin Young/Postmedia

The Savridi Singers sing Prayer of the Children during Remembrance Day ceremonies at the Military Museums in Calgary on Saturday November 11, 2017.Gavin Young/Postmedia

Several thousand Calgarians attend Remembrance Day ceremonies at the Military Museums in Calgary on Saturday November 11, 2017.Gavin Young/Postmedia

Veterans in the foreground and current armed forces members pay their respects at the cenotaph during Remembrance Day ceremonies at the Military Museums in Calgary on Saturday November 11, 2017.Gavin Young/Postmedia

Wreaths are prepared before Remembrance Day ceremonies at the Military Museums in Calgary on Saturday November 11, 2017.Gavin Young/Postmedia

A boy walks towards a CF-5 jet during Remembrance Day ceremonies at the Military Museums in Calgary on Saturday November 11, 2017.Gavin Young/Postmedia

Members of 33 Engineer Squadron, 41 Combat Engineer Regiment, march past grave markers during a Remembrance Day service in Calgary, Saturday, Nov. 11, 2017.Jeff McIntosh/Canadian Press

Calgarians listen to the Last Post during a Remembrance Day service in Calgary, Saturday, Nov. 11, 2017.Jeff McIntosh/Canadian Press

A poppy lies in the snow at the base of a veteran's grave marker during a Remembrance Day service in Calgary, Saturday, Nov. 11, 2017.Jeff McIntosh/Canadian Press

Lyn Moehling looks for the grave marker of her grandfather, WWI veteran Noble Edgar Taggart, following a Remembrance Day service in Calgary, Saturday, Nov. 11, 2017.Jeff McIntosh/Canadian Press

George Couture, 92, who served in both the Second World War and the Korean War, attended the service in Kensington Saturday along with his wife and children.

He said the stirring sound of the Piper’s Lament and the Last Post brings back memories.

“I remember all the boys that got killed,” said Couture, who served in the Royal Winnipeg Rifles.

“I was captured at the D-Day landing and spent 11 months in a German prison camp — it was a good place to be on a diet,” Couture said.

“We were finally liberated after about a 1,200-mile march on the road.”

Weighing just 98 pounds when he was liberated, Couture returned to Canada and Calgary. He reapplied to the military and was deployed again in the Korean War, ultimately serving around 30 years.

“The worst part is being away from your children as they’re growing up,” Couture said. “That was hard. My wife did all the work.”

Saturday’s service also paid tribute to newer veterans of the Afghanistan War.

Flanked by cadets from the Calgary Highlanders Cadet Corp, Calgary police Sgt. J. Nolan placed a wreath in tribute to servicemen and women killed in Afghanistan, some of whom he served with when he was deployed there in 2008 with the Lord Strathcona’s Horse Regiment.

“I served in Afghanistan. I lost good friends over there,” Nolan said.

“This isn’t about me, this isn’t about us. It’s about remembering them — the good men and women that fought and served and died for this country. That’s what brings me out every year.”

Nolan said he’s touched to see Calgarians, including those with no immediate military connection, attending sunrise ceremonies each day in November at the Field of Crosses along Memorial Drive, or attending Remembrance Day services in droves services across the country.

“It’s not just us remembering our friends, it’s everybody remembering them, and that speaks volumes to me.”

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